Your Career As A Cardiovascular Sonographer

When it comes to the career path you choose, supply and demand determine everything. The lower there is in supply and the higher it is in demand, the more a person in that field will make and the easier time they will have getting a job. This is especially true in the medical field, such as with the role of cardiovascular sonographer. Not only is it a highly demanded job with little supply, but it also allows you to help countless people in your day to day life.

A cardiovascular sonography, also known as an echo, refers to a test where a patient’s heart is studied using an ultrasound. The resulting ultrasound provides a clear image with a lot of detail, which of course helps out the doctor in charge of the case. As a cardiovascular sonographer, it’s your job to perform these tests. This job usually involves a lot of trust, as you perform the tests in isolation, making it perfect for independent thinkers. Most cardiovascular sonographers work in hospitals, but due to the nature of the trade can be based almost anywhere of their choosing.

Advancement in the field of cardiovascular sonography is usually based on pay more than position. Since this is a position that can rarely be filled, it’s counter productive to promote you to a different role after all. However, to compensate for this, you are paid a large wage. On average, a cardiovascular sonographer makes up to $50,000 a year starting out, which doubles upon reaching their twentieth year in the field. The time up until then has a relatively steady pay rate increase. Most of the time you are paid in wages rather than a salary though, and since being a cardiovascular sonographer means being called in for a lot of over-time wages, you can make even more than is suggested here.

Ironically it is fairly easy to become a cardiovascular sonographer in terms of education. Usually, it takes approximately two years of community college in the appropriate disciplines to qualify. Something as simple as Sanford Brown sonography programs or a science degree focusing on cardiovascular sonography should suffice. The severe lack of cardiovascular sonographers is more a result of the discipline not getting much attention in media and popular culture more than it having a too large barrier to entry for most. After you have your degree, you will need to sit a registration exam to become a fully licensed cardiovascular sonographer, so ensure that the community college you go to is fully accredited so that you have the largest chance of having the necessary skills as possible.

Cardiovascular sonography is a field that has a severe lack of people employed in it, and shows no signs of having a large influx anytime soon. You can rest easy knowing that choosing this career will ensure you are almost always going to be employed wherever you like, and with good pay besides. More importantly, you will know you are making a difference.

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Do you think it’s a smarter career move to become a cardiovascular sonographer rather than an obstetric sonographer (going the OBGYN route seems so common/popular that it’s probably too diluted even for it’s field) or are the chances of getting a job in this field still very likely? I just recently changed my major to sonography and it’s my first semester taking some of the required courses, and ultimately I would like to go into obstetrics – but not if it means the unlikely possibility of getting a job within a few months of graduation due to it’s overflowing popularity.